On Sunday, May 4, 2025 — two days after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Florida House Bill 1205 (HB 1205) into law — a law geared toward eliminating the ability of all but the most wealthy and powerful from accessing Florida’s ballot initiative process — the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a federal lawsuit seeking to prevent the law’s enforcement.
The suit was filed on behalf of individual plaintiffs and Florida Decides Healthcare (FDH), a nonprofit seeking to put the issue of Medicaid expansion on the ballot in Florida. FDH’s attempt to place this popular issue on the ballot for the 2026 general election was derailed by HB 1205, FDH is currently seeking to stop the future enforcement of the law so that FDH can renew its efforts to put Medicaid expansion on the ballot in 2028.
According to the Florida Policy Institute, Medicaid expansion would provide healthcare insurance to close to an additional one million uninsured Floridians, save thousands of lives, reduce economic inequality and provide Florida with net savings of $1.95 billion a year.
The SPLC’s complaint alleges that HB 1205 violates the constitutional rights of those who sponsor ballot initiatives, those who circulate ballot petitions on behalf of sponsors and those Floridian voters who seek to associate with and support a ballot initiative campaign through signing a ballot initiative petition.
The complaint details how HB 1205 imposes several new, vague, burdensome and punitive restrictions on the initiative process that suppress core political speech and discourage political participation. According to the complaint, the changes violate the protections of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. For example, HB 1205 will likely require sponsors, like FDH, of statewide ballot initiatives to pay well over $3 million just to have local county election officials process their petitions. The statute also prohibits all non-citizens, non-residents and individuals with felony convictions who have not had their voting rights restored from engaging in political speech by circulating petitions.
This case is going to trial on Feb. 9, 2026, in the Northern District of Florida.
